Friday, April 12, 2024 at 12:15 pm

JILA Foothills Room

Jennifer Stafford, UW-Madison

"AGN Jets as Heat Pumps in Cool Core Clusters "

Abstract:

Dynamically relaxed, cool-core galaxy clusters are expected to undergo catastrophic cooling due to the high amount of X-ray emission emitted by their central active galactic nucleus (AGN). However, observations show a lack of expected cool gas in the 1-2keV range, which implies an unaccounted-for source of heating. Once discounted due to inefficiency across large scales, conduction may play a role in this missing mass of cold gas. I will discuss the heat pump mechanism, a theory for AGN- mitigated feedback, where jet-inflated bubbles drive energy transport in cool-core clusters, creating conditions leading to more efficient conduction. I have implemented the heat pump mechanism in state-of- the-art magnetohydrodynamic simulations of AGN jets in cool-core clusters using the FLASH code and will explain the current state of the project.

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